Faded Ghosts
by luvsanime02
Summary: Clint's having fun people-watching during Tony's latest party when a ghost walks into the room.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Marvel comics or characters or movies, and am making no money off of this fic.

**AN:** For ClaraxBarton! The October 1st Spooktober prompt: masquerade ball.

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**Faded Ghosts** by luvsanime02

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Surprisingly, the masquerade ball is Pepper's idea, not Tony's. Oh sure, he's playing the host and loving every minute of it. He's dressed in red and gold, of course, and has heard about five hundred unoriginal remarks about Gryffindor ever since he entered the room, even though everyone knows that he's wearing his Iron Man colors.

Unfortunately, Clint's heard every single one of those remarks because he's in a unique position to overhear everyone near Tony. Not that any of them are aware Clint's even in the room, which is just how he likes it. Rather than being forced to dress up and mingle, Clint's hanging out (ha!) in the rafters and passing the time by people-watching.

It's somewhat amusing, as long as Clint ignores the people fluttering around Tony in an interchanging circle of sycophants. They're enough to make anyone want a stiff drink, and Clint's actually kind of impressed that the drink in Tony's hand is still non-alcoholic.

From up here, though, Clint gets to look around the room and play the 'who's who' game. He's texting his answers to Natasha, and she's texting her own to him. He's only behind by three people at the moment, which is pretty damn good when playing any game against Natasha, but Clint wants to pull ahead somehow.

His attention is captured by a commotion near the balcony, and Clint glances that way, really hoping that no one's trying to gate crash. Not because Tony can't afford to feed an extra person, but because a random stranger showing up to a masquerade ball never ends well in real life, only Disney movies.

Luckily, Clint recognizes this person right away, and quickly texts Natasha before she can do the same to him. He gets a frowny face in response and smirks. Excellent. Only two people behind now.

That taken care of, Clint spends a few minutes watching Bucky Barnes enter the crowd without any effort whatsoever, seamlessly fitting in. If Clint hadn't seen him come in from the balcony (and of course Bucky entered the room through the balcony, even though they're on the third floor), he might not have noticed Bucky for a little while.

Maybe. Bucky might have vanished easily into the crowd as far as anyone else could tell, but Clint's got just the right view to watch that distinctive gait prowl across the room. For all that Bucky's trained to not stand out and to disappear at will, Clint finds it hard to look away from him.

He's dressed in blue and not black, for once. It's a very flattering shade on him, the coat tight around his chest, and something about the outfit is pinging Clint's memory. The fabric doesn't look new at all, faded compared to everyone else around him, and even with the decorative mask over his face, Clint gets the impression that Bucky's very pleased with himself for some reason.

The realization comes slowly, very slowly. It takes until Bucky walks across the floor and finds Steve (Who's incredibly noticeable not because he's wearing red, white, and blue - which he thankfully isn't - but because of his fantastic shoulders to waist ratio. His pecs are also legendary.), and Steve's reaction is to drop the glass he's holding and stare at Bucky in frozen shock, that everything clicks for Clint.

He starts laughing, and quickly shoves his arm over his mouth to try and stifle his giggling. No one's drunk enough yet to ignore a giggling maniac perched above them, and Clint doesn't feel like dodging security right now.

But oh my god, he didn't. He did. Bucky definitely did. Clint wipes his eyes and types out a quick message to Natasha on his phone.

_he stole that right?_

Natasha's return text comes not two seconds later.

_Definitely._

Clint grins while picturing the face of the poor Smithsonian employee who next checks on the WWII Captain America display after tonight. They still haven't forgiven Steve for stealing _his _old uniform, and now…

Now, Bucky Barnes might have a mask over his face, but he is very clearly standing in the middle of Tony Stark's latest party while wearing his old war uniform. It has to be even tighter on him now than it was back then, but it still fits well enough, and Steve's still frozen where he stands, and this is the best thing ever, in Clint's opinion.

It doesn't hurt that Bucky looks hot as hell in that uniform. Definitely eye candy material. Clint is happily ogling the man's thighs in those pants when his phone chimes again.

Natasha's uncovered someone else, leaving Clint behind by three people again. Son of a bitch.

Clint takes one last, lingering look at Bucky dressed in that outfit, and then gets back to people-watching. He'll make sure to let Bucky know how much Clint enjoys the uniform later. Right now, he's got a game to win.

Also, Pepper is getting a huge wine and cheese basket from him. She deserves some kind of thanks for setting this whole party up in the first place.


End file.
